oversharing or over sharing?

In Inspiration, Mobile, Travel
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To say I get excited about holidays does not even come close to how I feel about spending time away from our usual home routine. And of course one of the things I particularly love about going away is the photography. To experience new and exciting places and to take pictures with all my cameras makes me ridiculously happy.

So you can imagine my excitement a few weeks ago when we set off on our trip to Puglia, a trip we had booked in January and looked forward to for 6 months. Normally I get so excited on these trips that I post every little detail. But what I really enjoy is the photography, not tending my social media feeds.

Film photography means I can’t post the pictures I take until a few weeks after I get back anyway. So on this holiday I decided to stay away from social media as much as possible and focus on taking pictures and having fun in the sun.

The sharing can come later, when I’m back home! (Which I now am, so here are a few pictures I took with my phone.)

What happened? Limiting my social media consumption freed up a surprising amount of time. I read. I meditated. I cooked. And I ended up spending a lot of time in the pool, working on something new: swimming underwater. I wear contact lenses so I have always been very reluctant to put my head under the surface. But I got some goggles and forced myself to do it. By the end of the holiday I was swimming entire lengths of the pool underwater. I even swam underwater in the sea!

I know that’s unremarkable for a lot of people, but it was a big deal for me. I can see why people say it’s like entering another world. (My husband, who was not observing a social media diet, was obsessed with taking underwater pictures with his GoPro, some of which you can see here.)

You could say that cutting back on social media gave me a new perspective: an underwater one. I’ll be trying this approach on future trips as well: less sharing, more taking the plunge and trying new things.

Sharing things later, when the holiday is over and my film pictures have come back, will be a chance to look back and remind me how much I enjoyed my holiday. But when I’m on holiday, I’m on holiday, not on Facebook. I’m over sharing.

kirstin

11 Comments

  1. Such amazing images! On a trip to California a few years back we had practically no cell service, so sharing wasn’t really possible. It was very freeing!

    • I know, right? I’m not very keen on Instagram at the moment either, but that’s another whole story…

  2. What a great approach! I need to have more discipline when it comes to this. And anticipating your film shots after the holiday is over gives something else to look forward to. (Can’t wait to see yours!)

    • I’m really trying to spend less time on social media over the summer holidays. I want to spend more time with the kiddos before they leave home. *sob*

  3. You are singing my tune, here. The pictures will wait, the time away is precious – every last drop! And I love catching up with your travels anytime. And this place looks the most divine – I know I say that every time – but REALKY!

  4. I wear contacts and have always been worried about swimming underwater even with goggles on, did you get special goggles too?

  5. Ohhhh this speaks to my heart so much- I am going to take this advice when I’m away next week. <3

  6. Beautiful, and I love that your holiday was a true holiday – a break from the sometimes insidious pressure of social media. x

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